Troubadous' Hand
The Cult of Troubadous’ Hand are aloof, bloodthirsty globetrotters whose sole purpose in life is to work through a checklist of Saint Troubadous’ famous victories in the belief that it will bring them closer to him and thus, the God-Emperor of Mankind. The cult originates from a group of clerics and scholars who had an obsession with lineage and heraldry - they would wager money and subsequently holy relics on who was able to trace their lineage back further. It wasn’t long before many realised they had ancestors who fought alongside Saint Troubadous during the Age of Rebirth in M32, and their status within their group was elevated drastically. Word of this group spread, and attracted people who in their day-to-day were unremarkable, but could prove their forefathers shed blood during the Troubadous’ Reclamation. Soon it was not enough to merely prove that your ancestors had brought heathen worlds to heel - you had to prove that their blood flowed through your veins too. Thus a charter was drawn up - a spiritual checklist of all the worlds in the Onus region that Saint Troubadous had conquered and the enemies he had slain. Some were straightforward, many of those creatures still walked the earth, hidden in the shadows and crevices away from civilisation. Some were much harder and involved tracking down the scions of ancient and once-powerful households, and great debates still rage amongst the cult as to what actually “counts”. Troubadous’ Hand cultists are belligerent and self-important, as not only do they have definitive evidence of their connection with divinity, but they are on a holy mission to prove that they could do it all over again if they wanted to. They adorn themselves with coats of arms, heraldry and livery relevant to their ancestry and every single iteration of their motto or crest is documented in scripture and pinned to their armour, making themselves to look as saintly knights-errant as they read about in poems. They proudly display their personal achievements on parchment stitched to their flesh and surround themselves with loudhailer-skulls and hangers-on who scream, bellow and sing their patron’s devotion and purity to all they meet. Their image belies their truth, as they are little more than ordained butchers who roam world to world massacring what they can find with even the slightest link to their blood-soaked pasts. Whole cities have been levelled by private armies of Troubadous’ Hand because they were possibly far-flung relations of an ancient enemy, and “killing one wouldn’t count as a whole one”. Pursuits Glory and death Suggested homeworlds Members of Troubadous’ Hand revel in their lineage, taking pride in proving their blood once fought alongside saints. Noble born, Schola Progenium (IH) or Famulus Protegé (BoM) characters would get the most from this cult, although you could reasonably be from any background. Suggested background packages Firebrand Redemptionist (IH) or Blessed Birth (BoM) would represent a suitably fired-up, self-important cultist ready to butcher the enemies of Saint Troubadous in the name of the Emperor! Suggested alternate career ranks The Redemptionist (BoM) alternate career rank is unsurprisingly fitting for a character with a desire for personal glory in the fires of combat.